On the far side of Spawning Run, Jimmy Ray and Clyde faced their angry boss.
“You fools! What in the hell were you thinking?” He shut off the speedboat’s engine.
“Boss, we didn’t have no choice. First thing we heared wuz his car horn, then he wuz unlockin’ the front door. Didn’t mean to kill ‘im, though. Just wuz gonna knock ‘im out, tie ‘im up, and wait fer you. His head weren’t very hard.” Jimmy Ray grinned.
“Jimmy Ray’s right,” said Clyde. “He had to kill the dog, too.”
“What dog? You didn’t say anything about a dog.” The boss scowled.
“The dude had a mean little dog with ‘im. Tried to bite us. Chased ‘im ‘round the yard for maybe ten minutes. Then when Clyde here finally got a holt of his collar, the damn fool dog slipped his head clean out of it. Had to shoot ‘im then.” Jimmy Ray spit a wad of tobacco into the water and grinned. “Almost hit Clyde instead of the dog.”
“Where’d you bury him? And the man’s body, where is it?” He flicked a dragonfly off the boat’s gunwale.
“We didn’t find the dog, but he’s dead all right. Jimmy Ray shoots real good, and we heard the dog holler,” said Clyde as he pulled a beer from the cooler.
Jimmy Ray snickered. “And that fancy-dressin’ city slicker’s taken care of good. We dumped his body in the deep end of the cove. Used ski rope to tie a coupla cinderblocks to ‘im, pushed ‘im off the side of the boat into the water, and kersplash, he was gone.” Jimmy Ray reached for a beer.
The boss grabbed Jimmy Ray’s wrist. “Where’s the man’s car?”
“We drove it way in the woods, piled brush on it. Ain’t nobody gonna find it,” said Jimmy Ray. And in a coupla weeks or a month when there ain’t nobody lookin’ for that car, I’ll slip back in them woods and git it. Strip it for parts, or sell the whole thing to a dealer I know who won’t ask no questions. He rubbed his wrist when the boss released his grip.
“We got us another problem. Some woman’s staying at that house over there.” Clyde pointed to 210 Spawning Run Road.
“The woman, is she a good looking, classy blonde?”
“Yeah. And she’s got a big black dog with her,” said Jimmy Ray.
“Ah, must be the old man’s daughter. I don’t think she’ll be here long, but find out. We can’t have any more delays.” He put his hand on the ignition.
“There’s more, though. She’s got the necklace.”
“The one you idiots dropped in the lake?”
“If you mean the necklace Snake lost, yeah.” Clyde didn’t appreciate being called an idiot. After all, he’d warned the boss not to hire a crazy boozer like Snake who couldn’t be trusted. When on a drinking binge, Snake would blab everything he knew. Just plain couldn’t hold his liquor.
“How do you know she has the necklace?”
“Boss, we wuz watching her through the glasses. We saw her wearing it,” said Jimmy Ray. “She looked mighty hot in her bathin’ suit with all them jewels hangin’ ‘round her purty little neck.” He gulped his beer. “Woulda paid her a nice little gitting-to-know-you visit, but she had that big dog with her.”
“We won’t know for sure it’s our necklace until we see it up close, though,” Clyde cautioned.
“Well now, guess we’ve got some work to do,” said their boss. “And Jimmy Ray, stay away from the woman.”
When Jimmy Ray frowned, the boss said, “Hey, you better leave her alone! For the time being, anyhow. Chances are the two of you will get much better acquainted before this is all over.” He turned the key and the boat’s engine roared to life.
Jimmy Ray grinned and blew a kiss across the cove.